2013 Week 9 NCAA Football Top 25: The Tailgater Poll

Byron Marshall and the Ducks pulled away in the second half of their showdown with UCLA on Saturday to keep pace at the top of the rankings. [Chris Pietsch/Eugene Register-Guard]

There weren’t as many shakeups to the Top 25 this weekend, though there were several games that left teams falling out of the rankings and other teams earning their way back onto the list. Two teams fell out of the top ten, while the teams that defeated them either rose up into or consolidated their position within the ranks of the elite.

A battle in the western nether-regions of the Southeast shifted the fortunes for a few teams. Another showdown in the heart of the Great Plains turned the tide for two more schools. And a Pacific Northwest thriller raised — and then answered — a few more questions.

How did all of this affect the poll this week? Before we go any further, here’s how our ballots combined to form the Week 9 poll as we near Halloween and the final month of the 2013 regular season:

RANK

TEAM

POINTS

LAST WK

1

Alabama (2)

74

1

2

Oregon (1)

73

2

3

Florida State

69

3

4

Ohio State

65

4

5

Baylor

64

5

6

Stanford

59

8

7

Miami (FL)

58

7

8

Oklahoma

49

14

9

Clemson

48

11

10

Missouri

45

6

10

Auburn

45

13

12

Texas Tech

40

9

13

Fresno State

39

12

14

UCF

38

14

15

Wisconsin

33

17

16

Northern Illinois

30

18

17

LSU

26

19

18

Michigan State

22

20

19

Oklahoma State

21

25

20

UCLA

19

10

21

Texas A&M

15

20

21

South Carolina

15

27

23

Louisville

12

23

24

Arizona State

7

22

25

Houston

4

NR

25

BYU

4

28

ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: Michigan (1)

An early upset by Minnesota dropped Nebraska completely from our ballots this week, the Cornhuskers’ defeat clearing up the Legends Division of the Big Ten a little bit more. Teams like UCF and Houston kept themselves ahead of Louisville in the AAC race. By and large, it was shaping up like a relatively vanilla weekend for college football.

Then Oklahoma dealt Texas Tech its first loss to change the complexion of the Big 12 picture. Connor Shaw came off the bench to lead South Carolina to a come-from-behind overtime upset of Missouri that gave the Gamecocks new life in the SEC East. And Duke upset the Hokies, making the ACC even more of a two-horse race that should be settled next weekend.

Then there was UCLA, who kept level with Oregon for a half in Autzen Stadium. For a moment, it looked like more seismic activity was ready to obliterate the Top 25 yet again. But the Duck defense clamped down on the Bruins in the second half and the offense finally forced the mascot to do some pushups. It left the top five spots unchanged, the entirety of the restructuring occurring from 6-25.

That said, you’ve probably got a different opinion than us. With the spirit of contention in mind, you will find our individual ballots below. Leave your personal picks, acrimonious invective, base insults, insulting suggestions, or belligerent rants down in the comments below. You’re also always welcome to hit up any of us on Twitter to offer a piece of your mind… even if we’ve left you feeling like this guy: